The Tennis Racket: As In Commotion, Not Equipment
by Eeveebeth Fejvu
Summary: At the Pallet Town tennis courts, it's Ash and Misty vs. Brock and Tracey in several fierce and playful matches. However, this game of tennis quickly becomes the game of 'love'... literally. AAML
1. PART ONE

Hello! Eevee here! I'm taking a short (very short) break from my novel, _Cavern Of A Million Colors_, to bring you this summertime two-part treat! I'll have you know now, this story isn't only for people who like tennis. Even if you know NOTHING about tennis whatsoever, you ought to enjoy this, because this isn't only about tennis! If you DO like tennis, this should be a double treat! Everyone should find something to like in this story, so please review and tell me what you think. As I said, this is a two-part, or two chapter, story. I already have the second part written, so I'll post it after I get some reviews. Enjoy! 

Dedication: I dedicate this story to my mom and dad, who taught me how to play tennis a long time ago. Lapras, thank you for teaching me how to score the game and how games, sets, and matches work. Onix, thank you for listening to the whole story attentively, and actually getting excited about the last few paragraphs. Also, I'd like to dedicate this to my friend, AAML Freakazoid. I hope you enjoy this little Pokéshippy tidbit I wrote, AAML! 

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey, Pikachu, Togepi, Mrs. Ketchum, Mr. Mime, or Pallet Town (though I DO own their tennis courts). I also don't own the game of tennis, Coca-Cola, Ace bandages, or Advil. 

* * *

**The Tennis Racket**

**(As In Commotion, Not Equipment)**

By Eeveebeth Fejvu

* * *

****

**PART ONE**

The bright summer day was pretty hot, about seventy-nine degrees and slowly rising, but there was practically no humidity, so it was a good day to be outside. Ash, Misty, and Brock had gone back to Pallet Town for a short break from Ash's training for the Johto league and had been joyfully met by the reasonable temperature and lack of precipitation. Having to camp outside all the time, Ash would have preferred to stay inside his house now that he was home for a week or two, but the weather was too good for him to stay cooped up indoors.

If there had been a public pool in Pallet Town, Ash would have immediately gone to it first thing, but there wasn't. He would have gone to the beach south of Pallet, as it wasn't far away, but going there wasn't an option, as a great group of Tentacool had washed up there on shore the day before. The Officer Jenny from Viridian City had come by with her Growlithe patrol to help the Tentacool. The three trainers still all wanted to go to the beach, but they had been shooed away. Misty still protested that she wanted to help the Tentacool (and catch one, Ash figured), and Brock still protested about not being able to be with Officer Jenny, but to no avail. It seemed as if there was nothing to do on a hot summer day such as that one.

Luckily, this day didn't have to be boring. They had seen Tracey the night before at Professor Oak's lab, and he had suggested that the four of them hang out together the next day, which was his break time. They all approved, but then had a hard time figuring out something to do. All of Ash's Pokémon, except Pikachu, were too tired to do any battling, so that was out of the question. The beach being closed, that wasn't an option, either. Finally, Tracey suggested that they all go play a few games of tennis at the courts that were right on the outskirts of Pallet. He said that he had been there before, and it was very nice. They had agreed, as Ash, Misty, and Brock usually never had time for other sports than Pokémon training.

Ash was excited, but apprehensive. He had never played tennis before, though he had seen and knew where the courts were, as they were on the way to the Xanadu greenhouse. He hadn't told Tracey, Brock, and Misty that he didn't know how to play, but figured he could learn fast enough. _It can't be THAT hard, can it?_

The next morning had dawned a beautiful day, so the plans were to go on as scheduled. Ash, Misty, and Brock were ready at eight o'clock when Tracey came by with four tennis rackets and a jade-colored bucket full of tennis balls. They left Ash's house and started up the dirt road towards the tennis courts. Each of the four humans toted a tennis racket, and Pikachu was left to carry the bucket. Togepi trotted happily behind them in the rear.

Ash glanced up at the sun still rising in the east. They planned to play until lunch, go back to Ash's to eat, and then go play some more until dinner. Ash leaned his tennis racket against his shoulder. Misty and Tracey were the only ones that had been wearing suitable clothes to play tennis in, so Ash and Brock had had to change. Brock was wearing his orange shirt and some dark brown shorts. Ash wore his black tee shirt and a pair of blue jean shorts. He had been going to wear his Pokémon league hat, but he had accidentally left it at home. Ash sighed slightly. The hat always brought him luck.

" 'Hope it's not a bad omen," Ash muttered quietly to himself.

"What's that, Ash?" Misty questioned, glancing at him over her shoulder.

"Nothing."

" 'Talking to himself, again," Misty chuckled to Tracey and Brock, "Maybe we shouldn't be going to tennis courts. Maybe we should be taking him to a doctor. Or a psychiatrist." Brock had a hard time keeping back a grin. Tracey snorted with laughter. Ash rolled his eyes, but no one saw, as he was in the back. Misty glanced over her shoulder at him again and gave him a roguish grin. When her back was to him again, Ash stuck the very tip of his tongue out at her. _Crazy girl._

Ash looked back to see where Pikachu and Togepi were. Pikachu was staggering back and forth slowly, carrying the bucket in a drunken manner, because he couldn't see over the top of the pail. "Here, buddy," said Ash kindly. He went back to where Pikachu was and grabbed the bucket's handle, relieving Pikachu of his burden. "Could you carry my racket instead?" Pikachu nodded happily, really wanting to be useful, and collected the equipment. Tracey, Brock, and Misty paused and watched the exchange.

The three boys continued on, but Misty remained to observe Pikachu's struggle with his new load. The racket was too heavy for him to carry by the handle, and the poor electric mouse ended up flat on his back, the racket crushing his whole body to the ground. Misty walked back to him and released Pikachu from under the netted paddle. "How about I carry Ash's racket, too? If you could just make sure that Togepi doesn't get lost, that would be a big help."

"Pika!" Pikachu saluted her importantly, and went off to fetch his new charge, which was already wandering into some bushes. Misty hurried off with the two tennis rackets to catch up with the rest of the group.

"This is a perfect day to play," Tracey was commenting when Misty caught up, "It's not too hot or too windy or anything. At least, not yet."

"I'm sure it will get hotter when the sun comes up the whole way," supposed Brock. Ash glanced over at Misty and saw that she was now carrying his racket, too. He looked behind him to find where Pikachu was, and saw that he was just now catching up, carrying Togepi piggyback style.

"Well, here it is," Tracey announced, pointing ahead of them. The four trainers and two Pokémon sprinted up to the gate, which was situated in between a grove of pine trees. Under the trees, a few wooden backless benches were scattered in a bed of dead auburn pine needles. Ash, Misty, and Brock gazed up for a minute at the yellow, blue-trimmed archway, which read 'PALLET TOWN TENNIS COURTS' in big, red letters. "Are you guys coming?" Tracey walked on in through the gates and the rest of the group followed eagerly.

Ash gasped excitedly when he saw, for the first time, the inside of the facility. There were two courts, the boundary lines painted white on the concrete, which was the green shade unique to all tennis courts. The nets tightly stretched across from one side to the other were a crisp white, obviously kept in good shape. Some kind of machine, foreign to Ash, was sitting across at the farthest court, filled with tennis balls. Around the whole area was a fifteen-foot high chain link fence, which Ash supposed kept wild balls from flying too far away.

The machine and the fence, somehow, seemed to be another rather foreshadowing omen to Ash. He gulped slightly as the four trainers walked out onto the nearest court. Ash glanced back to see Pikachu and Togepi sit down and lean against the fence. Togepi trilled. Turning back to his friends, he set the bucket of tennis balls down on the ground in front of him. A second later, his tennis racket was forcefully shoved into his hands by Misty. Ash almost dropped it in surprise, but caught it just in time. He shot Misty a reproachful look.

"You should have seen if Pikachu could carry that thing or not before just going off and leaving him to be crushed," Misty sassily explained. Ash didn't know what she was talking about, but that didn't stop him from responding.

"Pikachu could have carried it! I gave it to HIM to carry, not you!"

"I wasn't carrying it for YOU! I was carrying it so Pikachu wouldn't get flattened!"

"He could have carried it fine!"

"Yeah, right!" Misty cried out sarcastically.

"Yeah!?"

"Yeah!"

"YEAH!?"

"YEAH!"

"YEAH!?"

"YEAH!"

Ash and Misty screamed rather unintelligently at each other, both of their tennis rackets lying forgotten on the ground. Tracey and Brock watched a safe distance away. Tracey looked worried, as he was not used to the quarreling. Brock simply shook his head at the sight.

"Um, guys," Tracey carefully crept a few footsteps closer to the arguers. Sweatdropping, he waved his hands timidly in front of him. "Calm down now! There's no reason to fight!" Tracey chuckled nervously. Ash and Misty disregarded him completely. Their shouting caused a few Pidgey to fly away from their roosts in the pine trees.

Brock walked over beside Tracey. "If you say it like that, it'll never work," Brock advised him, "You have to be a bit more forceful. Like this." Turning to Ash and Misty, Brock cupped his hands to his mouth. "ASH! MISTY! CUT IT OUT!" They froze in mid scream, and both turned to face Brock like Stantler in a headlight. "See, Tracey? The 'calm down' method never works anymore. It hasn't worked for a long time. You have to be forceful."

"O…kay," Tracey replied hesitantly.

"What?" Ash asked, confused.

"Are we going to play tennis or not?" Misty grumpily snapped, retrieving her racket from the ground.

"We will if you two stop shrieking at each other," Brock muttered. He went and picked up his and Tracey's rackets from where they had left them. Ash quickly picked his own racket up from the ground, as if suspicious that Misty might take it away from him again.

"Alright, let's get started," Tracey began, accepting his racket from Brock, and then added, "Well, first, does everyone know how to play tennis anyway? Brock?"

"I do," Brock replied, "My dad and I used to play a bunch in the summertime. There are some courts in Pewter City. I haven't played for a bit, but I still remember how and I was pretty good."

"Ash?"

"Uh…" he trailed off and avoided eye contact with the others, "Uh… well…"

"Well, do you!?" Misty screeched at him.

"No!" Ash shot back at her. "Do you!?"

"…No."

Ash cocked his head in surprise. "You don't?"

"No."

"Oh, boy," Brock muttered under his breath to Tracey, "Half of the group is inexperienced? The younger half? This is going to be a long day, isn't it?"

"Probably," Tracey whispered back. To Ash and Misty, Tracey asked, "Do you even know the setup of tennis? Even if you don't know about backhand and that kind of thing, you can still play. But do you know what game, set, and match is?" Slowly, both Ash and Misty shook their heads. Tracey sighed. "Okay, the first thing you need to know is that a real tennis game is divided into games, sets, and matches. A game is-"

Ash looked away from Tracey. He didn't see what this had to do with playing tennis. _All you do is hit the ball over the net, right?_ _Easy as pie. Easy as a battle with Pikachu verses Pidgey. You know, this court kinda looks like a battlefield. It's got the white lines as boundaries like a battlefield. The net would make a good obstacle, too, like boulders on a rock field. Maybe there is a Tennis Pokémon somewhere out there. If there isn't, there should be. It would be pretty cool. Maybe it could be a normal evolution for Eevee! It would be the court-color green, with white stripes, a racket for a tail and ears, and a tennis ball nose! That would be so cool! It would be called Tenniseon, or maybe Racketeon, or Courteon, or Balleon, or-_

"ASH!" Misty's voice broke Ash's daydream of a Tennis Pokémon, "You didn't listen to a word Tracey just said, did you?"

"Sure I did!" Ash responded automatically, "All about games, and sets, and matches! I heard!"

"How could you hear him, staring off into space the way you were!?"

"I wasn't staring into space," Ash said defensively, "I was looking at…" Ash glanced back to see what was near where he had been staring into space. He had unconsciously been looking through the fence at some bushes on the other side. "Uh… I… thought I saw Team Rocket for a second."

"Yeah, right!"

"Yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

"YEAH!?"

"YEAH!"

"YEAH!?"

"YEAH!"

"ASH! MISTY! CUT IT OUT!" Both Brock and Tracey yelled at them at the top of their voices. With a final glare at each other, Ash and Misty stopped shouting.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted from where he and Togepi were watching. He waved his paws back and forth, wanting the four to start playing tennis so that the Pokémon wouldn't be bored.

"Let's just play," Ash muttered, "Before it gets to be lunchtime."

"We don't have to have lunch," Misty slyly joked, "We could play right through lunch." Ash looked appalled.

"Could we practice a bit before starting a real game? I need to warm up," said Brock.

"Okay," said Tracey, "I think we should all play on teams, even though there are two courts, because it's hard to have two games going at the same time." Ash, Misty, and Brock nodded favorably. "Okay, how should we divide up? Maybe there should be one experienced person on each team to help the unseasoned person."

Brock quickly pulled Tracey aside and whispered, "Don't divide it up that way! Surely you don't want to lose!?" Tracey shook his head. "Let's do me and you on a team, and Ash and Misty on the other. We both know how to play, so we can totally obliterate them in every game, set, and match. It's perfect; Inexperienced verses Experienced. Do you really want someone who plays like Ash does on your team?" They watched Ash, who was swinging his racket back and forth wildly like a baseball bat. Misty kept ducking, even though the racket was nowhere near her, just to aggravate Ash, which it did.

"Quit doing that," Ash complained, when she ducked quickly, though he had swung the racket far away from her, "You're messing up my concentration."

"Concentration? On what? Becoming the first human windmill?"

"Oh, very funny."

"Okay, you two," Brock called to them, "Let's get into our teams and practice."

"What are our teams?" Ash asked.

"Me and Tracey, versus you and Misty."

"WHAT!? I'm on a team with her!?"

"Do you have a problem with me, Ash Ketchum!?"

"No, but…" Ash looked pleadingly at Tracey and Brock, "Come on, guys! Don't make me be on her team!" The two boys ignored him, taking their rackets and the bucket of tennis balls with them to the other side of the court. Ash glanced at Misty. She twirled her racket menacingly. Ash sweatdropped.

"Ash, Misty," Brock called to them from across the net. He and Tracey had already gotten into position, one in the middle of each side of the court. "Get in place. I'll serve first, and just try to hit it back over the net, okay?"

Misty walked to the left side of their area, and Ash went to the right. "Serve?" Ash asked his partner, "I thought we were going back to my house for lunch. Besides, we just got here, so it's not time to eat yet."

Misty sighed. "He means 'serve the ball', Ash."

"I don't think I'd like to eat a tennis ball."

"…Just hit the ball when it comes over the net."

"Okay."

"Ready? Here we go!" Brock threw the tennis ball up in the air. Ash tensed as he watched the ball soar straight up. It seemed to pause for a moment, and then began to come back down. Brock swung his racket, and it hit the ball dead center. The ball instantly changed direction, flying in an arc over the net. It was going in Ash's direction so Ash ran up to meet it, racket at the ready. Suddenly, the ball seemed to disappear, and Ash froze, looking around. As Ash stood there, dumbfounded, Misty, Tracey, and Brock surveyed the ball plummeting to the ground right behind Ash. It bounced against the fence, then away towards the second court, and still Ash was confused about where it went.

"This is going to be easier to win than I thought, isn't it, Brock?"

"Maybe. 'Depends on how quick he learns. 'Depends on how good Misty is."

Misty tapped her foot impatiently. "Let me have a try at a tennis ball, will 'ya?"

Ash looked away from where he had been gazing straight up in the sky for the missing ball. "Hey! Give me another chance! It just… kinda took me by surprise a little."

Misty snorted under her breath. "Yeah, no duh."

"Ash, I'll give you two more shots, then it will be Misty's turn, okay?" Brock reasoned, so as to keep another futile argument from ensuing, as it no doubt would. He was used to being the peacemaker.

Ash's second and third tries at hitting the tennis balls were as prolific as his first. The second ball didn't go over his head, because Ash backed up instead of running forward. Instead, it hit Ash in the chin after the first bounce because he didn't back up far enough. Pikachu, at his seat off the court, dissolved into furious giggles. The third ball actually made contact with Ash's racket, but Ash turned his wrist in such an impossible way, which was hardly perceived and out of the question to duplicate, that the ball became imbedded in the chain link fence behind Ash, about nine feet up and out of reach. Pikachu resorted to numerous bouts of laughter, and Misty became so hysterical that she had to sit down on the ground, unable to stand up in her hilarity. Ash's face burned in disgrace and was as red as the hat he had accidentally left back at home.

Brock and Tracey were trying so hard to control their own laughter, that they had a hard time talking. Finally, Tracey was calm enough to be able to shout across the court to Ash and Misty. "Ash, you can, uh… try again in a minute. Misty, do you want to try now?" Misty nodded vigorously, her face screwed up from trying to keep her mouth straight, and got off the ground. She shook herself, in anticipation and to rid herself of all distraction, and balanced on her toes. Ash watched her flick her bangs out of her eyes with the back of her left hand. Her racket was poised in the air just perfectly. This time, Tracey served, so that the ball would fly over the net diagonally, in Misty's direction.

Everyone watched the ball soar gracefully over the net from Tracey's hit. Misty backed up a few paces in expectancy, and a look of panic suddenly crossed her face as she found that her head was in the ball's direct path. She moved her racket up in front of her face just in time. The ball bounced harmlessly off of her racket, and rolled away towards the other court, but Misty was frozen in her position in fear. The horrified and terrorized look on her face was too much for Ash to bear, and he clamped his free hand over his mouth to suppress the chuckle rising in his throat.

Across the net, Tracey and Brock grinned. "We are so going to beat them bad, aren't we, Trace?"

"Simply butcher them, I reckon."

"I bet so." Brock called to Misty across the net, "You want to try again?" She nodded and lowered her racket, but panic was still lingering in her eyes.

Tracey served again, but again Misty found herself in the path of the next tennis ball. With a slight yelp, she leapt out of its way and it flew past her, rebounding off the fence, and rolled to join the others on the second empty court. As Tracey was about to serve her last practice ball, Ash could contain himself no longer. "Hey, Misty! Is that another thing to add to your list of the most disgusting things in the world!? Carrots, peppers, bugs, and tennis balls!?"

The only thing that kept Misty from leaving her area to insult and physically hurt Ash right away was the fact that the ball was already flying though the air. She took her instant rage out on the tennis ball, running to it with her racket. She finally hit the ball, but in her ferocity, her wrist twisted and the ball simply hit the bottom of the net, which was actually the best either she or Ash had done so far. Ash burst out laughing in amusement, but this was the wrong decision. His reflexes were just fast enough that he was able to duck as Misty's racket whooshed centimeters over his head. He sidestepped out of the way as Misty swung her racket at his head again. Her face was livid. "You want a piece of this racket, Ketchum!?"

"Come on, Mist!" Ash tittered anxiously, "I was just joking!"

"At least I hit the ball in the right direction, Mr. I-Don't-Eat-Tennis-Balls-For-Lunch!" Ash ran for his life as Misty lunged forward and swung her racket at him another time. Misty was usually proficiently better than Ash at many things, including Pokémon knowledge, physical strength, and witty repartee. Apparently, she was on the same level as Ash was at tennis, and was quite taken aback by this.

Tracey, trailing the tennis ball bucket behind him, and Brock rushed to Ash and Misty's side of the court. Brock intercepted Misty and grabbed her under the arms, holding her back. She swung her racket back and forth violently, trying desperately to get to Ash. Ash tried to hide behind Tracey until Misty settled down, but Tracey didn't seem to want to be any closer to Misty's wrath than Ash did.

"Let… me… hit… you," Misty cried out in between swings of her racket. Brock struggled to hold her back. "You can… tell me… if this… thing… hurts more… than a… mallet… It has… more… surface… area… and a… wider… range… so it… should… hurt you… worse…"

Ash was frightened. "Misty, I'm sorry!" he blurted out, then put his hands over his mouth. He had just told Misty that he was sorry. He truly was sorry, and he had been sorry many times before when he had said something hateful to her, but he never, ever apologized. Apologizing meant confessing that you were wrong, and Ash didn't ever admit that he was wrong to Misty unless he wanted it to be rubbed in his face for a week.

Tracey, Brock, and Misty all stared at Ash as if he was crazy, which, Ash reasoned, might be true. Suddenly, Misty stopped swinging the tennis racket and relaxed. Her face became serene. Brock waited a moment, and then let her go. Tracey got out of Ash's way in case Misty changed her mind again. There was a pause as Ash looked up and found himself gazing right into Misty's eyes. They stood there for a moment, not glaring at each other, but just looking each other straight in the eyes. Misty seemed to be telling Ash, _"Let's not make this as hard for each other as we can. Let's at least try to stop making fun of each other and maybe we can actually have some fun with this tennis stuff, even if we aren't the best at it."_ Ash nodded once. Misty nodded once, too, and, twirling her racket, leaned it against her shoulder.

Brock and Tracey stood watching them, bewildered completely, until Misty turned to them and said, "Can WE try serving now?"

"Um, okay," Tracey muttered. Brock nodded, and they left to go back to their side of the court.

"I'll go first," said Ash, and Misty shrugged indifferently. Ash picked up the bucket of tennis balls and set it down a few yards behind him, out of the way. He selected one tennis ball off of the top and walked back to his starting position, tossing the ball a few inches into the air and catching it several times. Readying his racket, he stood still for a moment, focusing on his mission, and then threw the ball up into the air. Ash's pitch was wild, however, and instead of going straight up, went high and backwards. Ash was desperate not to loose track of the ball like he had the first time, so he quickly backed up and kept his eyes on the flying ball. He raised his racket to hit the ball over the net. He took one more step backwards for good measure, and suddenly, the bottom of Ash's foot hit something… the edge of the ball bucket. He lost his balance instantly, and fell backwards over the bucket, overturning it and causing all of the balls to roll away in every direction. Ash hit the concrete, but fortunately landed in such a way that he didn't hurt himself very much. His racket fell out of his hand in defeat, and Ash watched the ball he had been trying to serve bounce away to the other court.

It was truly a pathetic sight. Funny, but pathetic. Misty worked hard to not laugh, succeeded, and walked over to see what Ash's condition was. " 'You okay?" she asked, concerned. With a sigh, Ash nodded. Misty extended her hand and helped him stand up. Ash looked around at the loose tennis balls. They were slowly rolling away, almost as if they were alive and unsure about how far to go away from their bucket home. Ash righted the bucket and began to pick up the rouge tennis balls. Misty set her racket down and gathered some tennis balls to help. Pikachu scampered over to help, too, and picked up one ball at a time and deposited it in the bucket. Soon, the bucket held all of the tennis balls.

Meanwhile, Brock and Tracey watched and waited patiently.

Ash declined the chance to try and serve the tennis ball twice more, so as to prevent the chance of him injuring himself again. After setting the bucket safely off of the side of the court, Misty grabbed three tennis balls to practice serving herself. She hit the first ball, but accidentally twisted her wrist again, resulting in the ball bouncing off the middle of the net and rolling to join the growing quantity of tennis balls abandoned on the spare court.

Misty hit the second ball with a firmer wrist and at just the right angle, and it actually made it across the net. Brock and Tracey weren't prepared for the ball to bounce into their court, but Tracey recovered quick enough to swoop in with his racket and send the ball back over the net. Because Tracey's hit was rushed, the ball consequentially flew exceptionally high into the air, higher than the top of the fence. It headed over towards Ash's area of the court, but it was clear to everyone that the ball would eventually go over the fence on the path it was on now. Everyone could see that… except Ash.

Knowing that there was no bucket in the way now, Ash focused hard on his target and began backing up rapidly to try a swing at it. The ball seemed to speed up in Ash's mind, so Ash sped up his backwards sprinting. Just when it looked like he would be able to hit the ball any second, he suddenly rammed backwards into something very hard and solid, knocking the breath out of him. The ball disappeared over the chain link fence, which was what Ash had collided with. Ash groaned dejectedly and leaned against the fence right where he crashed.

"At least we got it over the fence twice," Ash heard Brock comment.

"Come on, Ash!" Misty called to him. "This is my last serve!"

Ash took half a step forward to return to his position. As he did, he felt something pull on the back of his black tee shirt, and suddenly Ash was jerked back. With an "Oof!", Ash's head slammed into the fence and the chain links rattled with their unique metallic sound. Ash charged forward, only to be wrenched right back into the fence again. He struggled to look over his shoulder, and saw that his shirt was caught ridiculously in a crevice in the chain links. Ash stormed forward furiously, and beat his racket against the fence in torment. His struggle to get free was ineffective.

It finally came down to Misty to loose Ash from his prison. Moaning inertly, she sauntered over to where Ash was being overwhelmed by the fence. Ash watched her uneasily. She grabbed a hold of the place where Ash's shirt was caught and yanked it upwards. It came free. Ash didn't even glance over at Brock and Tracey, because he was too embarrassed to see what state of silent laughter they were in now. Ash mumbled, "Thanks," to Misty under his breath and they went back to their positions for Misty's last practice serve.

The third tennis ball that Misty hit made it over the net like the last one, but this time Brock and Tracey were ready. Brock ran ahead and knocked the ball back over the net with ease. The ball flew right towards the center of the court for either Ash or Misty to strike. Both of them ran to the center at the same time and stood waiting for the ball side by side. Misty drew her racket back to hit the ball- "AH!" Misty's racket striked something hard, and Misty looked to see what it was. She was startled to see that she had clouted Ash in the face by accident, as he had been standing a few inches farther back then she was. With a gasp, she jerked her racket away and Ash, dropping his own racket, began to raise his hands to hold his face when- "AH!" Ash cried out again a second later as the forgotten incoming ball clouted him in the face where his partner's racket had. He sat down hard on the ground, and buried his face in his arms.

Brock and Tracey couldn't contain their mirth any longer, and burst out laughing. Misty dropped her racket and kneeled down beside her ill-treated friend. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she asked quietly, "Are you hurt real bad, Ash?" He trembled a little, but shook his head.

From inside his arms, Misty heard him mumble, "It does kinda hurt more than a mallet, though. But I'm okay." Ash had bit his lip to keep himself from tearing up, because both blows had stung, but it went away quickly. Ash had built up an immunity to pain through many years of life and small things like that didn't hurt much anymore anyway. Besides, he was determined to beat this game of tennis at its own nasty game. Ash looked up at Misty and grinned, to show her he was all right. She sighed exasperatedly and they stood up.

Brock and Tracey's giggles had subsided and Tracey called out, "Is that enough practice for you guys? If we don't hurry and start soon, we won't be able to get in at least a set before lunch!" Ash looked up at the sky. The sun was completely up now and the temperature was beginning to climb into the eighties.

"All right," Ash shouted back, "Let's get a real game started. But first, shouldn't we pick up all of the balls we've used? Because if we don't, we might run out."

"Okay, let's do that first," Brock agreed. The four set their tennis rackets down and strolled over to the second court, which was scattered with rouge tennis balls. Ash, Misty, Brock, and Tracey began to gather the balls and deposit them into the jade-colored bucket. In their seat beside the fence, Togepi had fallen asleep and was curled up leaning on the fence. Pikachu made sure that she was napping, then ran to join his master and friends in their rounding-up off the tennis balls. Out on the other court, Pikachu appointed himself to making sure that no ball went unnoticed, so he glanced about for a high place to search from. Pikachu eyed the tennis-ball-filled machine Ash had noticed earlier that was sitting on the court and bounded toward it. He leaped up on top and gazed around.

He saw no tennis balls hidden near the fence, so Pikachu began to climb down as he felt something shift under his paw. Moving his paw away, Pikachu saw that he had treaded on some sort of button and the button was now glowing green. Curious, Pikachu leaned down to examine the gleaming switch, and suddenly, the machine flinched underneath him and gave a great clatter. Pikachu was scared out of his wits. The four trainers jumped and stared at the machine. The device gave a roar similar to the one that terrified Pikachu most… the dishwasher. Then the thing began to buck up and down, and suddenly, tennis balls began shooting out from the tube that stuck out from the machine. Ash, Misty, Brock, and Tracey all screamed and tried to run for cover as the ball-shooting contraption pelted them with tennis balls. It jerked this way and that, and it was all Pikachu could do to hang on tight like he was at a rodeo. The humans all abandoned the second court immediately and could only gaze in horror at the mess of tennis balls tumbling everywhere.

A moment later, the basket on the machine was empty, and the machine shut itself off. There was a pause. Pikachu was breathing heavily, and he was very angry from the wild ride he had endured. With a great battle cry, Pikachu charged up and Thunderbolted the machine before anyone could do anything. Pikachu sauntered off to his seat smugly, satisfied with his smoldering work. Slowly, the four humans made their way through the flood of balls to gaze at the remains of the device. Ash gulped nervously. "I hope whoever owns this thing doesn't get too mad." They all nodded hopefully, but got away from the fried contraption as fast as they could, after throwing all of its balls back into the warped basket.

Everyone was still shaken up, but went about preparing themselves for the first official game anyway. All of them became very serious and solemn. Tracey took the ball bucket with him back to his and Brock's side of the court so that he could serve first. Ash whipped his racket up from the ground and swung it back and forth experimentally; he stopped after a few swings, however, as he didn't want to be labeled as a 'windmill' again. Misty stretched her legs and arms to loosen up. Brock rolled his shoulders back and readied his racket.

"I'll keep score, okay?" Tracey called out to his teammate and opponents. "Tennis is scored in a weird way, so it's kinda hard to keep track. The first score is fifteen, then thirty, and forty. The next score is advantage, and the last score is a win."

"Ready?" Brock shouted. Everyone was in his or her correct positions and all rackets were held up in front like warrior swords. Ash and Misty nodded. Tracey nodded, too. "Let's play!"

Pikachu nudged the sweetly slumbering Togepi so that she would be able to see the start of the valid game. She blinked her eyes open and trilled softly. Pikachu turned his attention back to the court and watched the first serve soar high into the air.

Tracey was good at serving and he used all of his skill to make the first one a challenge for the inexperienced partners. The refined arc brought the ball cattycornered into Misty's area. Misty was beginning to figure out how to handle the racket properly, and after the first bounce, she just managed to hit the ball back over the net. Ash wondered how she learned so fast. _Natural_, Ash thought slightly resentfully. Brock charged forward and sent the ball over the net. He purposely aimed the ball at Ash, given that Ash had only hit the ball with his racket once the whole time, and that had been in the wrong direction. Ash panicked and swung his racket crazily, but in his rush, actually hit the ball back over the net, though just barely. Brock and Tracey both rushed forward, but Brock let Tracey hit the tennis ball into the opposite area again. It went straight down the middle. Misty lunged towards it. Ash interrupted his personal victory dance to chase the ball, too. A second before a possible collision between them could have occurred, they both looked down and halted, but in the process, lost track of the ball. Ash and Misty saw it again just as it touched the ground inside their court. They groaned sadly as Brock and Tracey erupted into joyful whoops and cries for scoring the first point. They high-fived each other. Tennis had begun to actually get interesting.

Ash retrieved the ball and threw it back to Tracey. Tracey caught it. "We're going to take them down," Tracey muttered and Brock grinned. Tracey loudly shouted out the points. " The score is Brock and Tracey, fifteen, Ash and Misty, love."

It took a second for Ash to realize what Tracey had just said, and when he did, he was completely bewildered. _Did he just say 'love'?_ Ash had no idea what to do or think about the comment. He looked over at Misty. She was looking at him, teal colored eyes wide, and when he glanced at her, her cheeks reddened very deeply. Ash felt himself blush furiously, too. _Why on earth did Tracey just say that!? What does that kind of stuff even have to do with anything, anyway!?_

Brock and Tracey stood on the other side of the court, watching Ash and Misty in confusion. They had no idea why their opponents were acting so strangely. "Tracey, what's going on? I think I missed something."

"If you missed something, Brock, I missed it, too, 'cause I have no idea what they're doing." After a pause, Tracey added, "Was it something I said?"

Misty was as confused as Ash about why Tracey had just said what he had said about them. It was weird to be so embarrassed about something that she didn't understand, but embarrassed she was. Inside of her, a little alarm was going off, crying, "D_eny it, deny it, deny it!"_. She did.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, SKETCHIT!?"

"Uh…?" Tracey turned to Brock. Brock shrugged.

"TAKE IT BACK!" Misty shrieked.

"YEAH!" Ash inserted, getting into defensive mode, too.

"What'd I do!?"

"YOU KNOW!" Misty nervously gestured with her racket, utterly unable to repeat the offending remark. Both she and Ash blushed further after glancing at each other again.

"All I said was the score!" Tracey defended himself uncertainly.

Brock was thinking hard. Suddenly, he burst out laughing. Tracey gave him a weird look. In between chuckles, Brock managed to explain, "THEIR… SCORE, TRACEY! …THEIR… THEIR… SCORE!" Brock doubled up, howling with amusement.

Tracey thought for a moment. "Ash and Misty's score is…" He trailed off as he realized his fault. Tracey began to laugh, too. They were soon both hysterical.

Misty's face was burning. "TAKE IT BACK!" she shrieked again.

"No, no, Misty!" Tracey laughed, "You don't get it!"

"SURE AS HO-OH, I DON'T GET IT!"

"Calm down, you two!" Brock chuckled. Misty was the only one yelling, but Ash's eyes were shooting daggers at the two boys. "You don't get it! In tennis, when you have zero points, it's called 'love'. 'Love' is a score of nothing! That's another thing that makes tennis so hard to keep track of. Tracey was just saying the score! He wasn't… implying anything!" He burst out laughing, again. "You two! You… I can't believe… you all took it… so LITERALLY!"

_That is the stupidest way to score anything in the whole entire world, _Ash thought miserably.

_This is so… embarrassing isn't even the word for it, _Misty thought, mortified.

Brock and Tracey couldn't even try to stop laughing. "ASH AND MISTY, LOVE," Tracey screeched.

"ASH AND MISTY LOVE! THAT'S BRILLIANT, THAT IS!" Brock was hysterical.

"SHUT UP!" Misty screamed quickly.

"STOP IT!" Ash yelled. They glanced at each other again and blushed even further, if that was humanly possible. Ash glared at Pikachu, who was rolling around on the court, consumed by enraged giggles. Even Togepi looked like she was making fun of them, even though she was only chirping and waving her paws like she always did. "IT'S NOT TRUE!" Ash cried out.

"ASH AND MISTY LOVE!" Brock and Tracey jeered at the same time.

"YEAH, RIGHT!" Misty screamed out sarcastically.

Trying to recover from his laughing fits, Tracey called out, "Here!", and began to serve the tennis ball he was holding. Ash gripped his racket intensely. Misty ground her teeth. The ball plunged over the rope mesh. Misty ran forward and hit the ball with great, goaded force. It went back over the net. Brock swung at the ball, and volleyed it to Ash and Misty's side. Ash ran to make a swing at the tennis ball, but in his resentment towards his adversaries, missed. The ball hit the court, thus earning Brock and Tracey their second score.

"Brock and Tracey, thirty," Tracey grinned, "Ash and Misty, LOVE!"

"SHUT UP!" That was Misty again.

"What was the score, again, Trace?" Brock joked, "I didn't hear you way over here."

"I said," Tracey repeated teasingly, raising his voice, "Brock and Tracey, thirty, ASH AND MISTY, LOVE!"

"OH! Ash and Misty, LOVE!" Brock cried out, with mock realization. "I wasn't sure if you said ASH AND MISTY LOVE or not! Silly me!"

"SHUT UP!" Misty cried desperately once more.

"You know, Tracey," Brock said very loudly, but conversationally, " 'Ash and Misty LOVE' is terribly hard to say!"

"Oh, yes, let me try!" They both had a mocking, bantering edge to their voices. "ASH… AND… MISTY… LOVE! Oh, yes, I see what you mean, Brock! Terribly hard to say in a rush! And such an important thing to say, too!"

"Let's shorten it a bit, shall we!" Brock cried jovially. He considered the phrase as an acronym. "Let's see? It would be… AAML, then, wouldn't it?"

"AAML!" Tracey exploded cordially, "Wonderful! Rolls RIGHT off the tongue! AAML!"

Together, Tracey and Brock started up a sing-song-like chant. "AAML! AAML! AAML! AAML!"

"SHUT UP!" Ash and Misty yelled jointly.

"AAML! AAML! AAML! AAML!"

"PIKA-PI-KA!" Pikachu joined in the chant for fun. "PIKA-PI-KA! PIKA-PI-KA! PIKA-PI-KA!" Togepi trilled.

"Hit the ball, already!" Ash yelled, trying to ignore the mantra.

"Okay!" Tracey complied, as Brock continued the chant. He selected a ball from the bucket, and lobbed it over the net. Misty was so furious and wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't see the ball at all. She stood, fuming, as the ball went right past her. Brock and Tracey scored again.

"Lookie at that!" Tracey squealed, "Now the score is Brock and Tracey, forty, AND… AAML!"

"AAML! AAML!" Brock continued, absolutely loving the joke.

Tracey served again. He and Brock scored easily. "Brock and Tracey, advantage, and everyone's favorite score of… AAML!"

"AAML! AAML! AAML! AAML!"

"One point to win! Here goes!" …They scored. "Well, ladies and gentlemen," Tracey announced to Pikachu, Togepi, and an imaginary audience, "What a game this first one has been! Brock and Tracey have won, and the opponents are… AAML!"

"AAML! AAML! AAML! AAML!"

"Let game two begin!"

Tracey transferred the ball bucket over to Misty to serve the next game, who looked very sadistic. He ran back to his position quickly before Misty could compose herself enough to thrash him over the head with her racket, as she had tried to do to Ash earlier.

Each time she served, the ball bounced hard, high, and at strange angles, because her fury didn't allow her to have decent shots. Misty was truly more embarrassed and shy than she was angry, but she always covered up her bashfulness with rage in every situation.

Brock and Tracey were able to chant their "AAML! AAML!" cheer the whole second game, as they won and Ash and Misty stayed at 'love' the entire time.

Game three was very similar to game one, as Brock served this time, and Brock was about as good at serving the ball as Tracey. Fifteen, thirty, forty, advantage… Brock and Tracey won the third time in a row. Also for the third time in a row, the chorus of "AAML!" was shouted after every score. Ash and Misty hadn't scored one point yet, and the first set was half over.

Game four was Ash's turn to serve. Brock and Tracey didn't even have to hit the ball more than five times the whole game. Ash was so bad at serving the ball that he kept automatically giving them points. Some of the balls headed towards the second court, some ended up in the back fence (though none were hit as grand as Ash's third practice ball), and some almost mashed Pikachu and Togepi. Ash might have done better serving if he hadn't been so jumpy. Unlike Misty, who knew exactly why she was so self-conscious of the comment, Ash had no idea why Brock and Tracey's love chanting made him so fidgety. Game four's final score, as Tracey broadcasted it, was "Brock and Tracey win, with Ash and Misty in- I mean AT… LOVE!"

"Tracey, you shouldn't have fixed it!" Brock remarked on Tracey's commentary. "You had it right the first time!"

"Oh, okay! I'll change it then… Brock and Tracey win, with Ash and Misty IN love! Also known as AAML!"

"SHUT UP!"

"AAML! AAML! AAML! AAML!"

Tracey served again in game five, and Ash and Misty were so dispirited and so humiliated, that by this time, they had practically given up. Ash wished he had earplugs, so that he wouldn't have to hear the repeated mantra shouted by two of his friends and, even more pathetic, his own Pokémon. Pikachu had rejoined the chorus with a rousing cry of, "PIKA-PI-KA! PIKA-PI-KA!" and was now trying to teach the acronym to Togepi. Fortunately for the losing pair, Togepi didn't seem to be able to recreate the rhythm of the chant. Déjà vu reigned supreme as Brock and Tracey scrapped in their fifth win, Ash and Misty remained jammed at zero, and the initials of 'Ash and Misty love' rang throughout the court.

Ash sighed. One more game won by Brock and Tracey, and they would win the first set. Ash glanced up at the sky. The sun was essentially right overhead, signifying that it was around noon, and time for lunch. _I hope we can get this over with quick._ Game six was almost a repeat of game two. Misty's serves were out of control with fury, but weren't as hard, as Misty wanted the game to end quickly like Ash. She tried to remain hopeful that after they finished playing and had some lunch, Brock and Tracey would give up on their teasing, but she had some serious doubt.

To no one's surprise, Brock and Tracey, expert tennis players and chant writers, won the last game. They had won not only the game, but also the whole set, with Ash and Misty not scoring a single time. They celebrated the major victory with a loud, resounding chorus of "AAML! AAML!" They somehow managed to create a kind of triumphant song out of their chant, which went to the tune of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'. They danced about, waving their rackets, noisily singing:

"AAML is the score!

Such 'love' we could not ask for more!

If easy winning is your dream,

Put Ash and Misty on a team!

Don't they make the cutest pair?

AAML everywhere!"

Pikachu leapt up and joined the two boy's dance. Ash threw his racket at the ground in disgust. Misty threw her racket at Brock and Tracey in disgust, but it missed. Ash feverishly hoped that Gary was nowhere nearby; Ash had heard that he was visiting home, too, and would give anything to not let him hear the mockery song.

Ash sulkily grabbed his racket, marched over to the other court, grabbed Pikachu around the stomach right in the middle of the fifth round of the song, and silently headed towards the gate. _There's absolutely no reason for all that… that… nonsense, _Ash thought. _ANYBODY could make the mistake of taking the score the way I thought at first! Even MISTY thought that Tracey meant that me and her are… in… uh… _Suddenly, Ash blushed. Pikachu looked up at his master's face. "Pik-A?" Pikachu clandestinely asked.

"Be quiet."

Pikachu chuckled slightly. "PIKA-PI-KA!?" he asked of the chant.

"It's ridiculous."

"Chu. Pi-Pikachu."

"You try having people say that kinda stuff about you. 'See what you think then!"

Ash was out of the gate and under the archway. Pikachu climbed up on his shoulder to ride back to Ash's house for lunch. Ash started down the dirt path, when he heard pounding steps behind him. He paused and looked around to see Misty sprinting towards him, clutching her tennis racket and Togepi close to her chest. Ash wondered nervously if she was going to talk to him, but she never slowed her pace. She ran right past him down the road, and Ash caught a glimpse of her scarlet face as she glanced at him, too. She ran on towards Ash's house, but she was so tired from staying furious the whole morning that Ash thought that they might catch up with her before she got to her destination. He started to walk on, as Brock and Tracey burst out from the archway of the courts and hurried to catch up with one of their victims. They swung their rackets and the bucket of tennis balls wildly, their faces grinning maliciously. Ash quickened his pace.

"Ash! Hey, Ash!" Brock called to him. "Guess what!? We decided on a name for the song! It's…"

Brock and Tracey yelled the title together. "BATTLE HYMN OF THE TENNIS LOVERS!"

"Get it!? 'Tennis Lovers'!? It's 'Tennis Lovers', not as in people who love tennis, but people who are IN love who PLAY tennis together!" Tracey shrieked unnecessarily, "GET IT!?"

Ash sped up, so that he was running like Misty, who was out of sight.

"Whatcha doing, Ash?" Tracey asked with fake innocence, "Trying to catch up with your one and only soul mate!?"

"Yeah, what do you call what you're doing, huh, Ash!?" Brock called out.

"What do YOU think, Brock?" Tracey warmly asked.

"Oh, I dunno," mocked Brock, "Maybe AAML?"

"What do YOU think, Ash?"

Ash ignored them as best as he could.

Finally, Ash's house was in sight. Ash thankfully hurried to the door, where he saw his mom standing in the doorway, waiting. When he got to her, he saw she was looking inside the house. When Ash greeted her, she looked around and he saw that his mom looked puzzled, but smiled when she saw him.

"Oh, hi, honey," she greeted, "Misty must be very hungry. She already inside waiting." Ash found that he had underestimated Misty's determination to escape the commotion. "So… how did your first try at tennis go?"

"… Uh… well, not too good."

"Oh?" She frowned. "Why?"

"Hi, Mrs. Ketchum," Brock said. He and Tracey had finally caught up. "Did Ash tell you about how we played?"

"No. What happened?"

"Well," Tracey began, "We ended up playing a whole set, six games, and me and Brock won every game!"

"Wow, good for you," Mrs. Ketchum muttered, thinking that she had understood Ash's comment.

"But the weird thing was," Brock continued, "Every game was AAML!"

"AAML?" Mrs. Ketchum questioned. "What's that?"

"Ask Ash. He knows better than us."

"Ash?"

"… No comment."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Hee, hee! AAML is a wonderful thing, huh? PLEASE REVIEW! As I previously said, I already have the second and final part written and ready to post, but I would like some feedback first. You don't have to worry about missing the second posting, because I'm going to tell you when I'm posting it. On **TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2004** I will be posting Part Two, so don't miss it! (Hey, who'd want to?) See 'ya, and please review!


	2. PART TWO

See? I told you I'd post on Tuesday, and I did! I didn't know how funny this story really was until I got some of your reviews! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter! Anyway, on to the story! 

* * *

**PART TWO**

Ash was sickened. He had never been so sick before after one of his mom's meals, but after the one he had just experienced, he hoped to never have a lunch like that again. It wasn't that what his mom had fixed made his stomach upset. It wasn't that he had eaten too much or had been nauseous before lunch anyway. The fact was, Ash was sick because he had had to listen to the tune of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' being hummed all through lunch, purposely bringing to mind the lyrics of 'Battle Hymn of the Tennis Lovers'.

Mrs. Ketchum had had lunch sitting on the table when Ash walked in the kitchen. She had started preparing lunch a little before noon, not knowing when her son and his friends would be back, so that it would be ready whenever they came. She had fixed a whole mess of delicious cheeseburgers and a huge bowlful of appetizing french fries. Mrs. Ketchum had set the table with two places on each side, and had set two small bowls of Brock's Pokéchow on an end. In the middle, she sat the bowl of fries and platter piled high with cheeseburgers. She also set out two bottles of ketchup, a smaller one for the trainers, and a larger one for Pikachu.

Ash's mom set out four glasses and filled them with ice and Coca-Cola. She was sprinkling a small bit of salt onto the fries when she heard the doorknob turn in the foyer. Sure that it was Ash, she was about to go welcome him and his friends in, when she heard a sound of something being set down and some lightly thumping footsteps. Mrs. Ketchum listened to what she thought might be a small sob, and suddenly, Misty burst into the kitchen. She was clutching a fairly frightened Togepi unyieldingly to her chest and her face was flushed pink. She looked up and saw Mrs. Ketchum watching her anxiously. She blushed and quickly sat down at a seat, avoiding further eye contact with her tennis partner's mother. She let Togepi climb onto the table and trot over to her bowl of Pokéchow. Misty selected a cheeseburger from the pile and set it on her plate, but didn't start to eat.

Guessing that Misty would prefer her to leave, Mrs. Ketchum headed to the foyer, surprised that Ash, Brock, and Tracey had not been at Misty's heels. She gently shooed a disgruntled Mr. Mime upstairs, so he would not disturb the girl. She went and stood in the doorway. Again, Mrs. Ketchum thought she heard a small sniffle from the kitchen. She looked back towards the kitchen, puzzled, but suddenly she heard her son calling her. She greeted Ash, then Brock and Tracey. His friends looked happy, but Ash didn't. His face was flushed an awful lot like Misty's was.

Ash didn't seem to want to talk about what had happened, but Mrs. Ketchum was determined to find out what went wrong. She was positive that whatever Misty might be upset about, Ash was upset about, too. Brock and Tracey, leaving their rackets and the ball bucket next to Misty's racket, headed on inside to the kitchen. Pikachu leapt off of Ash's shoulder and followed. Mrs. Ketchum stopped Ash swiftly, even though he didn't look like he was in a hurry.

"Ash, honey, what happened?"

"…Nothing."

"I know that you lost every game," his mom said, taking his racket out of his hands, "but I know you can do better next time, so don't worry about it, dear."

"I'm not worrying about it," Ash muttered, trying to get away.

"…What's this 'AAML' stuff Brock and Tracey were talking about?"

"Nothing." Seeing his mother's unconvinced face, he added another, "Nothing!", to his sentence.

"Well, all right then," Mrs. Ketchum chided, "Don't tell me then! Go! Scoot! Lunch is on the table. I made cheeseburgers for you."

Ash meandered slowly into the kitchen, not wanting to get there fast, though he was starving. If Brock and Tracey hadn't given up on their teasing yet, Ash figured this might be a long lunch to endure. He walked into the kitchen. Brock and Tracey were sitting at the opposite side of the table from Misty. They were eating their cheeseburgers slowly and not taking their eyes away from Misty, like Pidgeotto waiting to pounce on their unsuspecting prey and humiliate her. Misty's eyes were downcast so that she didn't have to watch Brock and Tracey staring at her. When Brock and Tracey saw Ash walk in, they grinned maliciously at him and Ash saw why. The only seat left at the table was the one next to Misty.

Ash could see them just daring him to seat down next to her. _I'll show them, _Ash though viciously, and he put on an indifferent expression. He swiftly walked over and sat down in the chair, ignoring them, and pet Pikachu on the head. Pikachu paused from eating his ketchup-covered Pokéchow and purred a bit.

"So, Ash," Brock began, falsely cheerful in a mean way, "How are things going? Your girlfriend looks a bit upset. You ought to do something about it." He and Tracey grinned. Misty continued to stare at the cheeseburger in her hands, but she flinched.

"Maybe you ought to kiss her to make her feel better," Tracey suggested, laughing. Brock laughed, too.

"Be quiet," Ash muttered, choosing a burger from the platter and setting it on his plate. He reached over to grab some french fries, but accidentally touched Misty's hand as she reached to get some, too. Ash pulled his hand away, but the damage had already been done. Brock and Tracey were hysterical. Misty's face flushed ten shades of red. She quickly grabbed some fries, put it on her plate, and picked up her dish and glass. With a horrified look at Ash, she bolted out of the kitchen, into the living room, and out of sight. Ash glared at Brock and Tracey as he grabbed some fries himself and put it on his plate. He ate his food in silence.

For a while, it was quiet. Ash concentrated on his cheeseburger and french fries. Soon, Ash was uncomfortable. It had been too quiet for too long. He glanced up. Brock and Tracey were absorbed with their own food, or so it seemed. Brock was scooting his french fries all over his plate. Tracey was eating his cheeseburger in a weird way. Ash was suspicious.

Ash watched the Pokémon for a moment. Pikachu was adding more ketchup to his Pokéchow. Togepi was looking around mystified, wondering where her adopted mother went. Ash took a sip of Coke.

"Ash!" He turned his attention to Brock. Brock smiled. "We want to show you something we made…" He and Tracey, snorting with laughter, pushed a plate over to the other side of the table at Ash. Ash rolled his eyes when he saw what they had done. Out of french fries, Brock had spelled 'A A M L' using three french fries for each 'A', four fries for the 'M', and two fries for the 'L'. Above the fry acronym, Tracey had put the cheeseburger he had been eating. He had eaten it into the shape of a heart, and then covered the top with ketchup so that the heart was red. With the ketchup bottle, Brock had squirted little doodles of hearts and tennis balls on the plate. Brock and Tracey laughed as Ash's face turned red like the ketchup.

"It's a present," Tracey explained casually, "For your girlfriend. You can give it to her so she won't feel so bad."

"You guys are awful," Ash spoke to his own plate. He heard Brock begin to hum the first two lines of 'Battle Hymn of the Tennis Lovers'. When he got to the middle, Brock and Tracey burst into song.

" '…If easy winning is your dream, put Ash and Misty on a team!…"

Like Misty, Ash became fed up with their flippant jokes and, gathering his plate and glass, began to escape to the living room. He quickly remembered that Misty had went that way, so he did an about-face and went the opposite direction to the back door. He shut the door firmly, trying to block out Brock and Tracey's snickers, and finished eating the rest of his lunch on the back porch by himself.

_Why are they doing this to us? _Ash wondered miserably as he ate the last of his french fries. _What did me and Misty do to deserve this? Why is it always ME and Misty who are labeled as a… a… couple? _With a sigh, Ash collected his empty plate and glass and started to go back to the kitchen. He was about to open the door when he heard Brock and Tracey talking. He stopped and listened.

"Don't you think we're being a little too hard on them, Brock?" Tracey was asking. "I mean, it's real funny and all, but Misty looks about ready to cry and Ash looks really mad."

"I guess we are being a bit brutal," Brock agreed, "But think about it. They've had it coming for a long time now. The whole 'love' thing, I mean. I know that, and you know that. Misty probably knows that, and Ash, well, I'm never sure about him. But they've had it coming."

"It's like everything that's happened like this before has built up to this, right?" Tracey muttered.

"Exactly."

"Good. My conscience feels better now. I mean, I don't want to tease for no reason, but if there IS a point to all of it, then that's okay. Besides, I really like the song we made up."

"It's very catchy. You know, I also think the teasing is why they're not doing so good at tennis. I think they'd be a lot better if they didn't have the distraction. Let's keep it up."

Ash took his ear away from the door. Instead of going through the back door, Ash walked all the way around his house and went in the front door. On the stairs in the foyer, Ash saw an empty plate and glass, indicating where Misty had finished her own lunch. Ash didn't see Misty anywhere and he wondered where she went. Just then, Mrs. Ketchum came downstairs.

"Ash, dear, are you finished eating?" she asked, while she picked up Misty's abandoned dishes from the step.

"Yeah."

"I'll take those dishes, then." Ash set his own dishes on top of Misty's. Mrs. Ketchum made sure the stack was balanced before heading for the kitchen. "You might want to come tell Brock and Tracey to hurry, Ash. Misty already left." Ash whipped around. Her tennis racket was missing. Ash was about to run into the kitchen to get Pikachu when a thought entered his mind. Quickly, Ash ran up the steps instead, and into his room. He picked around in the mess that was his bedroom, and finally found what he had been looking for. Ash picked up his Pokémon League hat from on top of his vest, which was crumpled on his bed. He put it on. _Dear hat,_ Ash wished hard, _please, please, please help me and Misty beat Brock and Tracey at tennis so they can't say that stupid 'AAML' anymore, okay? Will you please bring me luck? I know I usually hope for luck only in battles, but this is a kind of battle, too, don't you think?_

Ash raced downstairs, then taking a deep breath, calmly walked into the kitchen. Brock and Tracey were helping Mrs. Ketchum get the dirty dishes ready for cleaning and Pikachu was sitting on the table, waiting for Ash to come get him. Ash was surprised to see that Togepi was still sitting next to Pikachu, because Misty had already left. _She was so upset that she couldn't even get up enough courage to go into the kitchen to get Togepi? Brock, Tracey, you guys are too brutal._ Ash knew, however, that Misty knew that one of the boys would bring Togepi with them when they went back to the Pallet Town tennis courts. Ash walked over to the table and scooped Togepi up. Pikachu quickly leaped onto Ash's head and tapped the brim of his hat impatiently, trying to urge Ash to leave the kitchen before Mrs. Ketchum could start the machine that made the most terrifying roar ever… the dishwasher. Brock and Tracey only caught a glimpse of Ash before he ran to the foyer, picked up his racket, and went swiftly out the door.

He sprinted quickly down the dirt road, hoping that he could catch up Misty. Soon, he spotted her just ahead. She was walking slowly, holding the very end of her racket lightly in both hands. She let it swing forward a bit in front of her, so that when it swung back, the netted paddle gently tapped her knees. Her head was down. Ash ran and pulled alongside her.

"Misty!" She glanced at him briefly. Ash held out a chirping Togepi to Misty and she took her, and cuddled her close. She locked her eyes on Togepi and wouldn't look at him or say a word. They walked side by side silently for a moment. Then Ash commented softly, "Don't listen to Brock and Tracey. They're being stupid right now. They'll stop soon."

"Yeah, right," Misty grumbled sardonically. Pikachu shifted slightly on his perch on Ash's head.

Ash tried to think of a way to make her feel better. Then, he got an inspiration. "Misty, I have an idea! They won't stop teasing us because they know that it distracts us from playing tennis. That's why we're failing so badly. Brock said so himself! Why don't me and you just ignore them really hard, and concentrate on the tennis, and see how it goes?"

Misty looked up. She was smiling. "That sounds like it could work!"

"Let's work together, and help each other out when we're on the court, like Brock and Tracey do… like partners should." Misty nodded happily. Ash held out his hand. "Shake on it?" Misty put her hand in his.

"You got yourself a deal, Ash Ketchum!"

"Gosh, you two! Holding hands already?" Brock and Tracey had finally caught up, bringing their own rackets and the jade-colored ball bucket. They were laughing.

"Shut up," Ash defended himself and Misty pompously. He saw that Misty wasn't distraught anymore, as she was shooting both chortling boys what is known as 'the look', the unblinking severe stare only females are able to produce. Brock and Tracey quieted down a bit, as the group of four trainers and two Pokémon approached the tennis courts.

Ash walked under the archway gate to the courts with more confidence than he had when he left it last. With Misty's promise to cooperate with him, and with his lucky hat back on his head, Ash felt ready to break Brock and Tracey's winning streak. Silently, everyone walked back to his or her positions. Tracey handed the ball bucket over to Brock and began his commentary.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Tracey glanced over at Pikachu and Togepi, who were sitting next to the fence again, "and Pokémon, welcome to the second set of today's first match. The first set was won by Brock and Tracey, and the opponents were AAML the whole time!" Brock snickered.

Misty whacked her racket against the ground ominously. "Stay calm," Ash ordered quietly, so only Misty would hear. She took a deep breath, and repositioned her racket, ready to hit the ball.

"The first game will be served by Brock," Tracey finished, "So let Set Two, Game One begin!"

As Brock began his serve, Ash saw that the ball was going to go his way first. Ash clenched his teeth nervously, but was determined to never hear the score 'Ash and Misty, love' again. The ball flew over the net. Ash took a pace backwards, let the ball hit the court once, and then swung his racket forcefully. He hit the ball right back over the net. Ash hadn't hit the ball over the net more than three times in the last set, so Brock and Tracey were surprised at how good he actually hit it. Tracey scrambled to hit the ball, and managed to knock it into Misty's court. Misty had a resolute gleam in her eyes. _It's time to get a point instead of just hit the ball back and forth. _Misty ran to meet the ball, raising her racket high to reach the soaring sphere. She whacked the tennis ball with a slight twist of her racket and it soared more down than across. Before Tracey or Brock could reach it, the ball touched down on their court. Ash and Misty exploded with joyful shouts. They ran to meet each other and high-fived. Brock and Tracey were completely dumbfounded.

"Well," Misty cried out triumphantly, "I guess that changes the score a little bit than usual, doesn't it!? Let's see, it would be… Ash and Misty, fifteen, and Brock and Tracey, love!"

"Now THAT'S an unlikely pair," Ash joked about Brock and Tracey naively. Misty actually laughed at Ash's joke for once, for she found it a very clever repartee.

"How on earth did they just score?" Brock inquired of his partner.

Tracey shrugged. "I don't know, but you better hurry up and serve again." Brock served, and Ash and Misty were so caught up in celebrating their first score that they didn't see the ball until it was too late.

"This evens the score up a bit!" Tracey announced, "Brock and Tracey, fifteen, Ash and Misty, fifteen."

"This… is war," Misty warned them under her breath.

Brock threw the ball into the air, and batted it hard across the net. Ash dived for it, and smacked it fiercely towards Tracey, who made a dive for it as Ash had, but wasn't as lucky. With a sigh, Tracey picked himself up off the ground, and called out, "The score is Brock and Tracey, fifteen, Ash and Misty, thirty." Brock went to retrieve a new ball from the bucket.

"Great hit, Ash!" Misty called to him encouragingly. Ash smiled. He wasn't used to getting compliments from Misty, but he found that he liked it a lot.

"Here goes another serve," Brock stated tiredly, and he gave the ball his best shot. It went over the net towards Misty, so she rapidly swung her racket as it neared her, and got the ball to touch down on her opponent's court. Needless to say, Brock and Tracey were completely stunned at the sudden turn-around in the tennis match.

"Well… it's now Brock and Tracey, fifteen… Ash and Misty… forty."

"Good job to you, too, Misty!" Ash exclaimed. He gave her a thumbs-up gesture. Misty blushed a bit, but grinned back.

"Pika Pi! Pikachupi!" Pikachu chanted, his paws cupped to his mouth to amplify his voice. Ash recognized his name as 'Pika Pi' and Misty's name as 'Pikachupi', and he beamed. Pikachu was cheering them on now, rather than teasing them. Togepi chirped and waved her paws, but now it seemed as though she was encouraging them on, too, rather than making fun of them.

"Thanks, Pikachu!" Misty called to the Pokémon, "You're a Pika Pal!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu resumed his chanting. "Pika Pi! Pikachupi! Pika Pi! Pikachupi!"

On the opposite court, Brock and Tracey were disheartened, to say the least. "I can't believe it," Tracey shook his head disbelievingly, "The crowd has completely turned against us! This is insane!"

"So much for audience loyalty," Brock murmured darkly, "And after we made a theme song up and everything!"

"Well, we can't really sing the 'Battle Hymn of the Tennis Lovers' unless Ash and Misty's score is love, can we? It just doesn't make sense if we do."

"How did they get so good!? That's what I'd like to know! Ash used to not even be able to hit the ball at all, much less over the net!" Brock thought for a moment. "Did they practice during lunch, after they left the kitchen?" Tracey shrugged.

"Serve the ball, Brock!" Misty yelled, twirling her racket.

The next serve went in Ash and Misty's favor. As Ash ran to hit the approaching ball, he tripped and fell down. As soon as he did, Ash was sure that Brock and Tracey were going to score, until suddenly, Misty came out of nowhere and smacked the ball over the net in his place. While Brock and Tracey worked on hitting the ball back, Misty helped Ash stand back up. "Thanks, Mist."

"You're welcome." Misty didn't have her racket ready as the ball came towards her, so Ash quickly pushed her out of its path and hit the tennis ball back over the net. Misty was astounded. "Well, thank you, too, Ash."

Ash just grinned. "We make a good team." Misty nodded.

A moment later, Tracey forlornly declared the score. "Brock and Tracey, fifteen, Ash and Misty… advantage. One point to win the game."

"All right!" Ash whispered gleefully, "We're going to win! We're going to win!"

"Ash, don't get too confident," Misty murmured softly.

Ash realized that she was right. He always seemed to get the same way during a battle and the too-much confidence never helped. "Okay."

Brock was holding the tennis ball to be served next, but he showed no signs of actually getting ready to throw it into the air. "Uh, Brock? Are you going to serve or not?" Tracey asked, confused.

"Why should I serve?" Brock chuckled sorrowfully, "They're only going to win the game. It turns out, the ONLY reason they weren't doing good in the first game is because they were distracted. That's the only reason we got a point in this game, too."

"You know," Tracey said thoughtfully, "Not serving is only dragging out the pain of the inevitable."

Brock considered that statement. "That's true. Well, last serve. Here goes!" Brock threw the ball up, and smacked it hard with the racket.

The battle for the last point was the most difficult of them all. Ash and Misty were exceedingly eager to win, so they put forth their best effort of newly-found skill and teamwork. Brock and Tracey had all ready resigned themselves to losing, but this did not mean that they were going to make it an easy win for their competitors. They also played with all of the dexterity and collaboration they could muster. The hitting of the tennis ball was fast, fierce, and fleeting. Pikachu's eyes were wide, as he tried hard to always keep his sight set on the speeding tennis ball. He cheered on his master and his friend with, "Pika Pi! Pikachupi! Pika Pi! Pikachupi!" Even Togepi, who sometimes had a hard time concentrating on the game, couldn't look away.

It came down to Ash to score the final point. He gave his racket a great swing, and by pure accident, his wrist twisted and made the racket hit the ball at a slight angle down. Brock and Tracey had found that Ash always hit the ball high, so they weren't ready for it to hit the court so close to the net. It took a second for Ash to realize that he and Misty had won the game as he watched the ball roll away. When it hit him, Ash exploded in happiness.

"YAHOO! YEA! WE DID IT!" Ash ran to Misty, waving his racket wildly, a daft grin plastered on his face. Misty laughed and waved her racket in excitement, too. She and Ash high-fived and Ash gave a great whoop, thrusting his fist into the air. Pikachu cried out congratulations from the sidelines, and Ash held up two fingers in a V shape for victory. "WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!"

Pikachu ran off to join the winning team and the three of them jumped up and down together in a circle, Ash and Misty chanting, "WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!" Though they were disappointed, Brock and Tracey couldn't help smiling at their over-enthusiasm.

"Ash! Misty!" Brock called to them, breaking up their festivity, "You guys only won one game. Celebrate like that if you have to, but wait until you win a whole set first."

Ash stopped and immediately became very solemn. "He's right." Ash turned to Misty. "We'll continue the party after we beat Brock and Tracey at the rest of this set."

Misty grinned. "Sounds good to me."

As Brock brought the bucket of tennis balls over for Ash to serve next, Ash whispered, "Hey, Misty."

"What?" Misty whispered back.

"I have a question about how you hit the ball."

"What is it?"

"Well," Ash began quietly, "I've been hitting the ball upwards more than straight across because when I tried to hit it straight across, it would just hit the net. How do you hit it straight across?"

"It's your wrist. Keep it straight. A lot of times, your wrist will twist by accident because of the weight of the racket. Hold your wrist very straight when you hit the ball, and it should go exactly where you aim it. I had that problem until I realized it was my wrist."

"Okay, thanks. I wanted to ask before I served so I don't fail so badly."

Brock had watched Ash and Misty whispering as he entered their court, and he grinned slyly. Handing Ash the ball bucket, Brock leaned down and murmured, "Whispering sweet nothings to your girlfriend?"

Ash sent him a loathsome look. "Shut up."

As Brock walked away, he muttered so only Ash could hear, "It's interesting how you never deny it." Ash thought for a moment, and found that this was true. He had never directly said she wasn't his girlfriend.

Ash had a better time serving in game two than he had in the last set. He managed to not give Brock and Tracey any automatic points, though not all of his tennis balls went over the net the first time. Still, it was a big improvement over Ash's previous attempt at serving. _I didn't know how helpful my hat really was! I don't think I'll ever take it off again, not even at night!_

Tracey sighed as he commentated the final score of game two to the excited, cheering spectators. "Brock and Tracey, thirty, Ash and Misty… win."

"Pika Pi! Pikachupi! Pika Pi! Pikachupi!"

Game three was Tracey's turn to serve again. He tried a new technique by hitting the tennis ball very, very fast and as far towards the ground as it could and still go over the net. He hoped to throw Ash and Misty off guard, but it didn't work too well. Misty figured out what he was doing after his first serve, so she told Ash, and they were both prepared. In agitation, some of the balls did not go over the net, which made Tracey even more uptight. Tracey suffered a bit from a mental breakdown over this, so it was up to Brock to earn the pair their one point of the game.

Tracey couldn't even manage to calm down enough to call out the final score, so Brock announced, "Game three ends with Brock and Tracey at fifteen, Ash and Misty, win," and drug Tracey off the court.

"That net! That STUPID NET!" Tracey howled hysterically. Ash and Misty had a hard time controlling their laughter as Brock had to resort to asking Pikachu to calm a devastated Tracey down. After the Thundershock, Tracey was able to compose himself and bring the ball bucket over to Misty.

"Trace, you okay?" Misty giggled as he handed her the bucket over the net. Ash chuckled a bit at Tracey, too. Tracey's black hair was standing on end, resulting in his hair looking even messier than Ash's usually did.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Tracey coughed. Both Ash and Misty gave him a critical look. "Really, I'm okay. I just… I'm usually a lot… I mean, a whole lot better at serving than that. …I'll live." Pikachu was laughing hysterically. He had slightly overdone the Thundershock by accident, but as it worked, he found it amusing.

Misty was ready to serve by game four. She regretted that this was her only chance to serve during the set, so she made up for it by starting off each serve with all of her skill. She and Ash had worked hard the whole time to score first, for they couldn't afford to end up with a score of love. Brock and Tracey were dying to scream "AAML! AAML!" but it just wouldn't be the same if Ash and Misty had already scored, so they couldn't. Ash and Misty were able to hold off the chant by scoring first, even though Brock and Tracey were able to score twice after that. Fifteen, thirty, forty, advantage… Ash and Misty pulled off another victory.

A poised, though disappointed Tracey was able to announce, "Brock and Tracey, thirty, Ash and Misty… win… again… for the fourth time… in… a… row." He turned to Brock hopefully. "Please, please, please do a better job at serving than I did. Please."

Brock sighed. "That's a lot of pressure, you know? All I can do is the best that I can."

"Just make sure your best brings us a win."

"I can't make any promises anymore."

Brock was slightly distracted from serving during game five. Pikachu had taken on the job of cheerleader for the team of Ash and Misty and was having a fine time doing so. Out of the corner of his eye, Brock could see Pikachu jumping up and down, doing cartwheels, doing summersaults, and shaking his fist at him and Tracey. "Pika Pi! Pikachupi! Pika Pi! Pikachupi!" Pikachu cheered.

Pikachu just about Thundershock Tracey again when he scored a point for his team, but luckily, Ash was able to yell out in time, "Look out, Tracey!" With a frightened cry, Tracey leapt out of the way just in time as the electricity went passed him and hit the chain link fence instead.

"Chu! CHU!" Pikachu cried angrily when he missed his target.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled exasperatedly, "Don't Thundershock our opponents! It's just Tracey!"

"Pi-Ka," Pikachu defended, but went back to his cheerleading anyway. Ash saw Tracey breathe a sigh of relief. Ash glanced at Pikachu and sighed himself as he watched Pikachu do a back flip, which earned applause from Misty. _I wonder if that's what it's like for Gary with his cheerleaders._

With the diverting spectator doing various acrobatics just off the court, the "distraction" theory Brock had thought up was proved to work on Brock and Tracey, too. "Final score for game five," Tracey announced, "was… big surprise here… Brock and Tracey, fifteen… Ash and Misty… win."

"ONE MORE GAME!" Ash chanted, "ONE MORE GAME!"

"Pika Pi! Pikachupi! Pika Pi! Pikachupi!"

Brock sighed. One more game won by Ash and Misty, and they would win the second set. Brock glanced up at the sky. The sun was already a bit past its zenith, signifying that it was around two o'clock in the afternoon. _I hope we can get this over with quick._

Game six of set two was played with Ash serving the tennis ball. He actually got the ball over the net each time he hit it, which made him ecstatic with pride on how fast he had improved. _Maybe I'm a natural like Misty, too!_ Each time Ash served well, or his team earned a point, Pikachu would go into a small cheering frenzy. He would dance around in a circle, electric sparks flying everywhere, chanting very loudly, "PIKA PI! PIKACHUPI! PIKA PI! PIKACHUPI!" Tracey always backed away from Pikachu as far as he could when Pikachu started his routine.

Back and forth, back and forth, the tennis ball went across the net. However, the ending to the game was the most exciting. "Brock and Tracey, thirty, Ash and Misty, advantage. One point to win the game, and the set," Tracey morosely called. Ash threw the tennis ball up into the air, and gave it a smack with his racket. The ball shot like a rocket over the net and Brock smacked the ball back. The intensity of the hitting grew, as each team didn't allow the ball to hit the court. Misty dived for the ball, and managed to hit it back. However, the ball flew high, almost straight into the air. Brock and Tracey both looked up to follow it, but the sun got in their eyes. Ash and Misty couldn't see the ball for the sun either.

By this time, Pikachu had ventured closer to the court in excitement. He then ran out, right onto Brock and Tracey's court, to see if he could see the ball. Suddenly, the tennis ball seemed to reappear. It was headed directly for Pikachu at a high speed. Even if the Pokémon hadn't been in the way, there were no means for Brock or Tracey to have gotten to the ball in time anyway. In his fright, Pikachu did the only thing he could thing of… he Thunderbolted the tennis ball. Ash, Misty, Tracey, and Brock all watched the ball pause in midair, then finish its descent to the ground. It rolled away from where it landed on Brock and Tracey's court, gray and smoldering.

With a sigh, Tracey muttered, "Brock and Tracey, thirty. Ash and Misty win game six, and win set two."

The celebration that Ash and Misty had started after game one was resumed. Pikachu brought Togepi along to Ash and Misty's court so that the two Pokémon could celebrate the upset victory with their trainers. Wiping sweat from his forehead, Brock shook his head in amazement. "I don't believe it," Brock chuckled, "That was probably the biggest comeback in all of tennis history."

"I'd say so," Tracey replied, "This is not over yet, though."

"Game, set, but no match, huh?"

"That's right."

"YAHOO! WE DID IT!" Ash cried happily, swinging Pikachu around and around in the air, "WE WON! WE BEAT THEM! WE- AHH!"

"Watch where you're going, Ketchum!" Misty snapped as Ash accidentally collided with her. She held Togepi tighter.

"Sorry," Ash muttered dizzily. A moment later, Ash realized that he had apologized again. '_Don't know what's gotten into me lately, _he thought in introspection. However, Misty didn't give him any strange looks this time.

Brock and Tracey arrived on Ash and Misty's court. "Well, congratulations," Brock acknowledged, shaking Ash and Misty's hands in turn.

Tracey did the same. "Yeah, congratulations so far, at least. Are you two sure you've never played tennis before?"

Misty grinned. "I'm positive."

"Me, too."

"Well, if you're sure," Tracey glanced up at the sun, "How about one more set to decide the match? I don't think I could play anymore than that without fainting like a Pokémon."

"Me neither," Brock agreed. "Boy, it's getting hot!"

"One more set sounds fine to me," Misty complied in satisfaction, "What about you, Ash?"

"We have to play another set no matter what!" Ash said quickly. "How else are we going to say that we actually beat you two?"

"Beat us?" Brock joked, "We'll see about that!"

"Yeah!?" Misty called to them, as Brock and Tracey took off with the ball bucket back to their court, "Bring it on!"

"We will!"

Brock and Tracey settled back into their familiar positions, Tracey with a ball in hand, ready to serve. Misty was prepared and Ash was getting ready to play, when he suddenly said, "Wait a minute!" Ash raced over to Pikachu and whipped his Pokémon league hat off of his head. "Will you hold this for me Pikachu?" Ash asked, handing his hat to his Pokémon, "The brim keeps covering up my eyes because I'm running around so much, and I don't want to block my vision."

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded, accepting the hat and thanking Ho-oh that Ash hadn't asked him to hold onto the tennis racket or ball bucket. Pikachu placed the hat on his own head, and it was forced to slide around backwards by the weight of the brim, giving Pikachu a peculiar, yet cute look. "Pika Pi! Pikachupi!" Pikachu cheered as Ash ran off back to his position.

Suddenly, as Ash was positioning his racket in his hands, he remembered how unlucky he and Misty had been when he hadn't had his Pokémon league hat on. Ash felt a strange twitch in his stomach, almost a stirring of warning.

" 'Hope it's not a bad omen," Ash muttered quietly to himself.

"What's that, Ash?" Misty inquired, glancing at him questioningly.

"Nothing."

"Ready?" Tracey called out. Ash and Misty nodded. "All right! Ladies, gentlemen, and Pokémon, welcome to set three of today's tennis match! This is the deciding set of the match, as Brock and Tracey have won one set, and Ash and Misty have won a set, too. Let game one begin!" After completing his commentary, Tracey threw the ball high, and served.

Misty whacked the ball back across the net. It was returned by Brock. Ash sent the ball pelting towards Tracey, when abruptly, Ash's stomach twitched forebodingly again. Ash became uneasy, and in his apprehension, couldn't even hear Pikachu's cheering. Ash felt unable to move, and watched Tracey hit the ball back across to his and Misty's court.

The ball was flying to Misty's right, and she ran sideways for it. Unexpectedly, Misty felt a strange forewarning feeling in her stomach as Ash had, but had no time to listen to it because the ball was coming on fast. She swung her racket at it, when suddenly, she felt a jerk as her feet became tangled together. She became unbalanced and started to fall. Before she was even half way to the ground, Misty knew that this accident was going to be painful. Her right knee and elbow hit the hard concrete first, followed by her whole right side. Her right arm jerked in a spasm, causing her racket to involuntary hit her left shin hard. She cried out in fright and anguish, dropping her racket from a trembling hand and clapping both hands around her left shin.

"MISTY!" Ash cried out in terror, dropping his racket and rushing to her side. There was a jumble of footsteps pounding the pavement as Brock, Tracey, and Pikachu joined Ash in a circle around the fallen girl. She had curled up tightly on the ground, biting her lip against the pain in her right elbow and both legs. Ash knelt down behind her immediately and struggled to pry her fingers from their hold so that they could see what was wrong. A bit of red liquid leaked from around her fingers.

Brock grimaced. "Oh, boy. This is bad."

Ash's eyes grew wide in fright. "SHE'S BLEEDING!" Ash shrieked hysterically, "WHAT DO WE DO!?" Misty sucked in a moaning sob. Togepi was trotting onto the court to see what was wrong, so Pikachu, placing Ash's hat back on Ash's head, ran to shield the little Pokémon from seeing her injured mother.

"Just stay calm!" Tracey tensely replied, and looked to elder Brock for help. Brock bit his lip anxiously, trying to decide what to do while keeping up his composed appearance. Ash leaned over Misty and clasped his left hand over her own to keep the draining blood contained. Misty's eyes were closed tightly, trying instinctively to block the throbbing pain from her mind.

"All right," Brock evenly started, "I'll run back to your house, Ash, because it's the closest. I'll grab some ice and bandages and Advil, and I'll be right back. Okay?"

"I'll come with you, Brock," Tracey offered to help.

"Okay. Let's go. Ash, if you can, help her get up and find a place for her to sit. And for heaven's sake, don't let her bleed more than she has to. Keep some pressure on it until it stops bleeding. I'll be right back." With that, Brock rushed away towards the archway exit, trailed by Tracey. They disappeared from sight. Ash glanced up and saw Pikachu guiding Togepi to a corner and distracting her, for which Ash was grateful.

When Misty finally realized that Brock and Tracey had left, she forgot holding back her tears. Strangely, she didn't mind weeping in front of Ash the way she minded the others seeing her with her guard down, though theoretically, it should have been the opposite. Tears leaked out of her hurt teal eyes, absolutely breaking Ash's heart.

"Here, Misty," Ash choked sadly, "Sit up, and I'll help you sit down somewhere more comfortable." Misty grimaced as she made a weak attempt to sit up, and failed. She didn't let go of her bloody shin the whole time Ash struggled to help her sit up by himself. When he got her up, it was a struggle to get Misty to stand up, too, but as Ash excelled at challenges, he somehow managed. Misty made an effort to stand on one foot and hold the other leg, but she would have fallen down again if Ash hadn't been there to prop her up.

Ash looked around wildly for a place for Misty to sit and wait, until he remembered the wooden backless benches sitting under the pine trees outside the courts. Motioning to Pikachu where he was going, Ash held onto Misty's arm patiently as she hopped painfully across the court, through the gate, and into the pine-needle-strewn grass. Misty gasped in ache as she plopped tiredly down onto a bench. Ash sat down next to her to her left and leaned down to look at the wound.

"Let me see."

"No."

"Come on, I need to see how bad it is." Ash was ready to pry her fingers loose from her shin, but her hand went away of its own accord. Blood continued to trickle down her leg into her shoe, but the cut wasn't very large. Ash wished that he had something to block the blood with, until he realized that he did.

"Ash, no!" Misty was horrified as she watched Ash whisk his hat off of his head and press it to the wound. "Not your hat, Ash! It'll be all bloody!"

Ash chuckled sadly. "Nah, it's washable. Remember, if it's been through my whole journey so far and still looks this good, then a little blood won't hurt it."

"Well," Misty murmured slowly, "If you're sure." She sniffed, then burst into tears again. "It just…", she said slowly, "It just… hurts… an awful lot."

"Aw, Misty," Ash muttered sadly, glancing up at her tear streaked face, "I'm sorry this happened."

" 'S not your fault, Ash," Misty whispered. Then she began to weep again. Seeing Ash's appalled face, she added, "Why do you keep apologizing for things, Ash? This is the third time today!" Ash hadn't known that she was keeping track like he was.

"I don't know," Ash explained, pressing down the hat a bit harder. He lifted it up a bit, saw the cut had stopped bleeding, and then set the hat aside. "I guess 'cause bad stuff keeps happening."

There was a pause. "Thank you," Misty blurted out suddenly, and wiped the rest of her own tears away. "The apologies… they mean a lot to me."

Ash smiled a little. "You're welcome." As there was nothing much left to do except wait for Brock and Tracey to return, they sat quietly for a moment, not looking at each other. Suddenly, Ash reached out and gave Misty a tight hug. In Ash's mind, it just seemed like the right thing to do after the whole day's horrible events. Misty was surprised, but glad, to say the least. For a moment, Ash just held her to himself, Misty innocently leaning into him, rocking a little bit back and forth. "It's going to be okay," Ash whispered softly, though Misty had stopped crying a few minutes before. Misty grinned, but Ash's eyes were closed, so he didn't see.

Suddenly, Ash's mind snagged upon an outlandish thought. _Why AM I hugging her? Is it because…_ Ash blushed as voices from the whole day came flooding back to him.

_"Tracey was just saying the score! He wasn't… implying anything! You two! You… I can't believe… you all took it… so LITERALLY!"_

_"Oh, okay! I'll change it then… Brock and Tracey win, with Ash and Misty IN love! Also known as AAML!"_

_"…Don't they make the cutest pair?…"_

_Why IS it always me and Misty that everyone says should be a couple? _Ash wondered crazily, pulling away from Misty. She almost fell off the bench, since Ash had been supporting her completely. She looked into his eyes in surprise, and when she saw his crimson face, she blushed also. Misty looked away towards the road barely visible through the pine trees. _Why did she just blush, too? Do… do they… DOES everyone… have a point?_

_"I mean, I don't want to tease for no reason, but if there IS a point to all of it, then that's okay."_

_"They've had it coming for a long time now. The whole 'love' thing, I mean. I know that, and you know that. Misty probably knows that, and Ash, well, I'm never sure about him. But they've had it coming."_

What Brock had said caused Ash to think more. _Does that mean… that… Misty… thinks that… me and her should… uh… be together?_ He glanced at Misty. _If… if she does… then what… about me?_

_"Whatcha doing, Ash? Trying to catch up with your one and only soul mate!?"_

_"It's like everything that's happened like this before has built up to this, right?"_

_"It's interesting how you never deny it."_

Ash had never truly denied that she was his girlfriend, much less denied that he wanted her to be.

_"Maybe you ought to kiss her to make her feel better."_

The pain in Misty's leg was only increasing the longer the cut from the racket went untreated. She didn't feel like crying anymore, but that didn't mean that she still wasn't hurting. On the inside, Misty's heart was also hurting, wondering anxiously why Ash had stopped hugging her so quickly. She had liked the hug, and perhaps, had even been hopeful. She shot a quick peek at him sitting beside her on the bench. He was staring into space, a small smile playing on his lips. He suddenly turned his head to look at her, not aware that she was looking at him. Ash and Misty blushed at the same time.

Just then, a sharp twinge of pain shot through her leg, and Misty automatically clapped her hand to the slice in her shin. Ash glanced down at her leg, concerned, for a moment, and then looked back up at her face. "Is that where it hurts the most?"

"Yeah," Misty began bluntly, "My other knee and elbow hurts-" She cut herself off as Ash leaned down, brushed her hand away, and lightly kissed the cut. When he straightened back up, Misty was gaping at him.

"I- I- I… well," Ash stammered in diffidence, "well, see, my mom… my mom always used to do that when…" He trailed off, too amazed at his own self to continue the cover up. Misty didn't believe him anyway. "Wh- wh- where d- did you say that you where h- hurt a- a lot, t- t- too?"

"Well," Misty said slowly, trying to contain her emotion, "My other knee is bruised, but it doesn't hurt much. My right elbow is bruised, too, but it hurts a lot." She bent her arm and pointed to the blackish contusion where her elbow had hit the green pavement. She watched as Ash gently touched his lips to the bruise. When he sat up this time, he avoided her eyes, his face flushed and timid. Glancing around for something to gaze at besides Misty, Ash picked up his bloodstained hat and held it a moment, before putting it on his head. He looked down at the ground, and nervously rubbed some dead auburn pine needles into dust with the toe of his shoe.

"Ash?" Misty asked gradually, not really wanting an answer more than for him to see her reaction to his tenderness. Ash glanced up. Misty was blushing, but her eyes sparkled happily.

Ash had a strange feeling in his stomach, but it wasn't a warning. It was like a bunch of fluttering Butterfree. "Hey, M- Misty?"

"Yeah?"

"Does… do you… h- hurt anywh-where e- else?"

"…Well, um, yes."

"Wh- where?"

"… I… I think I… hit my mouth when I fell down," Misty stammered uncertainly, wide-eyed at her own words. Gently, she touched her shaking finger to her lips. Both Ash and Misty knew that she hadn't cut or bruised her mouth, and both knew that the other knew the same.

Ash blinked. Then, he smiled.

"Come on, Tracey! Hurry up!" Brock's handful of an Ace bandage, Advil bottle, and a water bottle weighed him down a bit, so he was glad that Tracey had come back with him to Ash's house. Tracey held the ice pack away from his body as they ran so that the leaking water wouldn't drip all over himself. By the time the two boys had gotten to Ash's house, they were out of breath. Mrs. Ketchum had made them sit down and rest until they were able to explain the problem. She then rushed them back out the door with the supplies Misty needed, dismayed that she had kept the hurt girl waiting. Brock looked up ahead and saw the tennis courts coming into view.

"Ash! Misty!" Brock saw them sitting on a bench under the pine trees outside of the courts. They looked up as Brock called to them. Brock hurried to them immediately, and winced when he finally saw the gash on Misty's shin. "Ouch! Misty! What did you do to yourself?"

" 'Wasn't me, Brock," Misty chuckled sadly, "It was that tennis racket."

Brock "tsk"ed a bit as he examined the wound. He noticed that the hat on Ash's head was smeared with dried blood, and realized how Ash had stopped the blood flow. Unrolling the Ace bandage, Brock gingerly began to wrap it around Misty's left shin. Tracey finally arrived on the scene, and handed Misty the ice pack, which Misty promptly applied to her right elbow. "I'll go get Pikachu and Togepi," Tracey said, and they nodded as he went off to fetch the Pokémon.

As Brock finished wrapping her leg, he realized how quiet Ash and Misty were being. He glanced up at them. Misty was holding the ice pack tightly to her elbow, and Ash had laid his hand on hers to help Misty keep it steady. Brock watched the two of them exchange fleeting looks several times before he offered Misty the Advil. Ash held the ice pack in place while Misty put the pills in her mouth and took a drink of water.

"Thanks, Brock," Misty said appreciatively, moving her bandaged leg back and forth, "It feels a bit better now, but I don't think I can walk on it yet. I think that it's not only cut, but bruised, too. Maybe underneath the skin." Misty tried to stand up on only her right foot while still holding the ice pack to her elbow, but this didn't work very well. Ash stood up quickly and grabbed her shoulder to keep her from falling. Misty leaned precariously against his right side, and put her arm around his neck for balance when he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Ready?" Tracey questioned, joining Ash, Misty, and Brock again, all four tennis rackets loaded in his arms. Pikachu staggered slowly after him, holding the ball bucket as best as he could, with Togepi sitting among the balls on top, like a white red-and-blue patterned tennis ball herself.

Brock gathered up the Advil bottle, water bottle, and ice pack that Misty couldn't hold when she was walking. "Yep, we're ready, I guess. Let's get you home, Misty; well, at least to Ash's home, so you can rest."

"Yes, please," Misty muttered, and the assorted band made their way back to the road. As they started on back towards Ash's house, Ash and Misty were in the front, Misty still leaning hard against him. Brock and Tracey were in the middle, and Pikachu, with his cumbersome burden, was far, far in the back. They walked in that formation for a few minutes in silence. Brock watched the front pair slyly; they looked rather cute leaning on each other the way they were.

"Hey, Trace," Brock whispered, nudging Tracey with his elbow, "Check out the lovebirds up there." Tracey grinned mischievously.

"Whatcha doing, Ash?" Tracey shouted to Ash and Misty's backs, "Trying to cuddle with your one and only soul mate!? Is that it!?"

"Yeah, what do you call what you're doing, huh, Ash!?" Brock called out teasingly. Brock and Tracey sniggered.

Suddenly, Ash stopped, Misty pausing beside him. They didn't turn around, or even look around. Out of the blue, Ash began to chuckle. The joking boys were very confused. Brock would have given anything to see Ash's face and figure out what was going on in his mind.

"Oh, I dunno," Ash slowly replied, the tone of his voice as light and cheery as the voices that had teased him and Misty all day for their one miscomprehension. "Maybe AAML?"

Brock and Tracey froze in disbelief. Misty began to giggle, and she leaned harder against her companion, snuggling her head into Ash's neck. Ash tightened his grip around her shoulder affectionately, and they continued on down the road, Misty's injured leg slightly raised from the ground. Brock and Tracey were so stunned at the statement, that they were completely immobilized. Pikachu and his load accidentally bumped into their legs, startling them back to life. "ASH! MISTY! WAIT UP!" Brock and Tracey shouted, and ran to catch up with the two already half out of sight.

**THE END**

* * *

Don't you just love happy endings? Well, what else is there to say? It's been a pleasure to write this story for everyone out there, and I hope that you enjoyed it, and please review!


End file.
